Privacy Statement

The University of Michigan Health System is very interested in the privacy and safety of visitors to our web site.

This is how we handle information we learn about you from your visit to our web site. The information we receive depends on what you do when you visit our site.

If you visit our site to browse, or to read or download information such as patient education materials or press releases:

We may collect and store: the name of the domain and host from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com or princeton.edu); the Internet protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using; the browser software and operating system you use; the date and time you access our site; and the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site. We use this information to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, and to help us make our site more useful. We also conduct web traffic analyses through which we track statistics such as which pages are visited in what order, where users come from, and how long users spend on our web site, but we never associate such information with specific identities.

We may use "cookies" on this site. A "cookie"is a small text file that a web site can place on your computer's hard drive to, for example, collect information about your activities on the site. The cookie transmits this information back to the web site's computer which, generally speaking, is the only computer that can read it. Most consumers do not know that "cookies" are being placed on their computers when they visit websites. If you want to know when this happens, or to prevent it from happening, you can set your browser to warn you when a web site attempts to place a "cookie" on your computer.

If you choose to identify yourself by sending us an e-mail or when using our secure online forms (e.g., Prescription Renewal Requests):

Our web site contains forms through which you may request information or supply feedback to us. In some cases, telephone numbers or return addresses are required so that we can supply you with the requested information. In other cases, you need to send us additional information so that we can respond to your request appropriately. If you don't provide your name or other information, it may be impossible for us to refer, respond to or investigate your request.

We use secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to protect the transmission of information you submit to us when you use our secure online forms. All the information you provide us through these forms is stored securely offline. If you send us an e-mail, you should know that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. So, if your communication includes sensitive information and you prefer not to use one of our secure online complaint forms, contact us by postal mail or telephone rather than e-mail.

Any information you provide will not be sold or distributed to any other party.

Obtaining information from us

If you want to get non-medical information about you that may be in our records:

The Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 provide you certain rights to get information about you that is in our records. To learn more about the circumstances under which you can get and correct this information, visit our Freedom of Information Act page.

Following links on our site

This web site links to documents located on web sites maintained by various organizations. Once you access an individual document that links you to another web site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the web site containing that document.